Background

July 31, 2006:
A first group from the ACF Trincomalee team – the primary base of ACF in this region – takes the ferry to go to Muttur, where ACF had a base, on the other side of the bay. The situation is calm, and the group stays there overnight.

August 1:
While the situation is still peaceful in Muttur, a second group takes the morning ferry to go to Muttur, intent on returning to Trincomalee that same night. Early in the afternoon, fire is exchanged between Sampur and Trincomalee. The “Muttur battle” has started: roads are blocked, and so are the seaways (the ferry shuttle is suspended). The ACF team can no longer leave town and is stranded. From Paris and Colombo, and after consulting with the Trincomalee base, the decision is taken to request all staff members to remain in the ACF office and to maintain regular radio contact.

August 2:
Muttur is under fire: the LTTE has launched an offensive to which the government forces respond. The local population starts fleeing in waves. The Muttur team is confined to the ACF base; the Trincomalee team attempts to find a safe passage to evacuate them, and informs the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and some NGOs, that aid workers (therefore protected by the Geneva Conventions) are trapped in town. Radio contact with the Muttur team is established every 30 minutes.

August 3:
The LTTE seems to have taken control of the town. ACF contacts an authority belonging to the government forces (a colonel from the Sri Lankan army) and informs him of the presence of our employees in Muttur. The ICRC tries to organise an evacuation by boat for injured civilians and our employees, but the attempt is aborted when the ICRC is unable to obtain security clearance from the fighting parties. The fighting continues. ACF is in regular contact with its Muttur base.

August 4:
That morning, Action contre la Faim loses all contact with its 17 employees stranded in Muttur, where violent battles rage on. The decision is taken to send 3 vehicles from Trincomalee to evacuate the staff members. However, on its way to Muttur, the convoy is stopped by the army, for security reasons, just before reaching town.

August 5:
Toward the end of that morning, ACF receives information according to which persons fleeing town have reported seeing bodies on the premises of the ACF offices. Once again, a convoy is organised and attempts to reach Muttur, but the vehicles are blocked in Tuppur (a town near Muttur) by the government forces.

August 6:
A convoy made of two ACF vehicles and one ICRC car, leaves for Muttur. On its way, the convoy meets the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA)  . However the convoy is stopped by a demonstration of villagers who block the road and prevent the ICRC (and therefore ACF) from proceeding. Only the CHA is able to go on. In the mean time, members of the ACF team take the initiative to board the ferry whose services have just been restored. Unfortunately, it too must turn back before reaching Muttur. Upon reaching the ACF office of Muttur, the CHA discovers the bodies of the 17 ACF employees, faces to the ground, executed by bullets.

August 7:
ACF goes to Muttur, despite continued sporadic fights, to recover the bodies of 17 of its employees, and takes them to the Trincomalee hospital, a little after midnight on 8th August.

Context

Since the end of 2005, the multiplication of serious skirmishes between the parties in conflict has increasingly raised doubt about the sustainability of the ceasefire agreement concluded in 2002 between the rebel Tamils and the nationalist Sri Lankan coalition government.  Fighting has intensified between the army and the separatist rebels, and negotiation attempts failed until the Sri Lankan government officially renounced the ceasefire on 8th January, 2008.  The fragmentation of the conflict is currently increasing the complexity of this war, particularly with the multiplication of paramilitary groups. At present, the battles that make up the fourth phase of the so-called Eelam  war are just as brutal and leave little hope for an imminent resolution of the conflict. There are also an increasing number of terrorist attacks and kidnappings. Moreover, it remains difficult to assess the true situation, due to the propaganda disseminated by each party to the conflict.

The Human Rights situation

In the on-going conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) group, both parties have shown little interest in ensuring the security and well-being of civilians – and as a consequence have violated the fundamental rules of international humanitarian law – by targeting areas where the majority of people are civilians, and by preventing the provision of much needed humanitarian aid. Since the beginning of the conflict, hundreds of civilians were killed or injured, and more than 215,000 persons were displaced.

 Respect of human rights by all parties to the conflict is deteriorating with the escalation of the violence. Numerous reports  have cited extra-judicial executions committed by government agents: political assassinations, recruitment of child soldiers by paramilitary forces associated with the government; disappearances; arrests and arbitrary detentions, etc... There are seldom any arrests, and no one was ever convicted following such acts.

 As for the LTTE, which exerts an important control over the northern part of the country, it continues to attack civilians; to practice torture and arbitrary detentions; to refuse public and fair proceedings; to restrict freedoms of speech, of the press, of assembly and association; and to force recruitments, even of children. The LTTE has also been very active in areas it does not control, particularly by launching suicide attempts. The LTTE is considered a terrorist organisation in more than 32 countries, such as India, the United States and the European Union.